HAND-SAND: A tool for simulating handover techniques in cellular networks

This paper presents HAND-SAND, a tool for learning and testing different handover techniques when cellular phones move from one cell to another. It has been implemented using Arena, a discrete event based simulation environment. The importance of cellular phones in today's communications cannot be denied. Fifteen years ago, mobile communications were something rare and unusual, but now, almost everyone has one or more cellular phones. Not too many people, however, understand this technology. This application presents different handover techniques and how results can be analyzed. It is intended for use with computer science and telecommunications students. The objective is to try different handover techniques and compare results.